An electrical connector of the type is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2003-249305 (corresp. to U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,313) as a lever-type connector and has a rotatable lever. The lever has a resilient lock member formed at its one end for locking the lever at a fitting position and a finger placing portion formed adjacent to the resilient lock member for rotating the lever.
However, in the lever-type connector, a lower side of the resilient lock member of the lever is opened so that mechanical strength is insufficient. Accordingly, when the resilient lock member is pressed and operated, the lever may be deformed and an operation force of the lever may not be reliably transmitted to a mating connector.
In case where the connector has a large number of contacts, the lever is inevitably increased in size. Therefore, protrusion of the lever before fitting is large and flapping strength is decreased.